Page 16

PART XII

MARK

Evan Margolis was about to tread on his last nerve. Walking beside him down the hallway, Mark wanted to grab him and shake him hard enough to rattle his teeth.

The man was squirrely.

There had to be a better descriptive term for it, but at the moment it was the word that pushed right up to the front of his mind.

"I," Evan's voice cracked and he twisted his neck to give Mark a look, "I know how to get to her dressing room."

Mark didn't take his eyes off of the hallway in front of them, but he could see Evan's expression and his movements in his peripheral vision.

"You don't need to come with me to talk to her."

They both continued to walk, with Mark on the side of Even that kept the other man away from his gun.

They were nearly to the stairs when Evan's strides faltered and he stopped, almost stomping his foot. "Mister... Whatever your name is, stop!"

Mark came to a stop but not with any rush or hardened motion. He turned with a lazy pivot. "Mister Margolis." He drew in a breath and had to force his heartbeat to slow. "You wanted to see Nix."

The man made some kind of noise halfway between a stutter and a sputter. "I am allowed to see her and the violin to-"

"Yes," Mark tried to cut the man off without seeming blatantly rude, "and you will, but Nix is exhausted and would like to return to the house and rest. If you'd like, you can see her to-"

"No."

Evan huffed and gave Mark a hard look, but Mark didn't think the man's gaze actually met his.

“Tonight.” Evan metered out each syllable. “I meet with her tonight. Here, at the venue, or I take Blackwood to court so I can sell the damn thing.”

Mark wanted to grab two fistfuls of the man’s shirt and slam him up against the wall. The man was important to Heather. Or rather, the violin was important and so he was holding onto his temper, by mere strings.

“You are going to see her, Mister Margolis, but make no mistake, this is not on your time. This is about protecting the violin and the woman who has been doing everything she can to protect it.”

“Right,” Evan couldn’t seem to help himself. “As if she could protect it if someone wanted to do harm to it.”

“That,” Mark explained, “is why we’re here.”

They didn't talk again, making the rest of the walk in silence.

For Mark, the silence was a blessing.

But it also made the walk extremely uncomfortable. Part of him hoped that it was uncomfortable for Evan as well. He didn't want him to take anything out on Heather. Instead, Mark hoped that Evan was using the time to reflect on how he was planning to speak to her. Mark hoped that he'd have more respect with her.

Somehow, he wasn't sure that Evan was capable of it.

HEATHER

The soft knock at the door was enough to have her stomach in her throat.

"Miss?"

She heard Badger's softly spoken question and smiled. If they weren't one door away from the public, he might have called her Heather, like the other Big Sky Bodyguards called her at the rental house, but she knew that Badger was doing his job, protecting her identity.

"I'm fine, Badger. Thank you."

He nodded, but before he could move toward the door, she was up and out of her seat at her dressing table.

Badger put his hand out to hold her back. "You don't have to sit," he gave her a smile, "but let me open the door, hmm?"

"Yes, of course." She felt her cheeks heat and lifted her hands to touch them. "Sorry."

"No need to apologize, Miss. It's our job to protect you."

She nodded, but didn't drop her hands right away. She needed to do something with her hands, and she didn't want to wrinkle her dress.

She stood there as Badger moved toward the door.

Heather heard him speaking into the comm link. "Ares?"

By the tilt of his head, she had a feeling that he didn't get the answer he was waiting for.

The line of his shoulders tensed.

"Ares? Are you there?"

Badger turned to look at her over his shoulder. The smile on his face didn't rise into his eyes. "Having some comm issues, Miss. No worries. We prepare for things like this."

With that said, Badger reached into his suit coat.

No, she didn't see it, but she could see the movement of his shoulders and his gun arm moved out of sight.

With one hand on the door latch, he spoke one more time. "Miss? Step to the far side of the room away from the door, please."

"Oh, god, yes. Sorry."

She knew what she was supposed to do, but she'd been focused on Badger and communications being down. Her heart had gone straight to Mark. Was everything okay?

Heather moved off to the side and pressed herself as close to the wall as she could. The more she followed instructions, the more Mark and the other bodyguards could focus on keeping her safe and them as well.

Badger nodded and turned his attention back to the door.

He pulled open the latch and opened the door inward, away from the steps.

Before Heather could even see light coming through the gap in the doorway, Badger had his gun aimed through the space.

Heather felt her heart seize in her chest and she held her breath.

A moment later, she sagged back against the wall as Badger opened the door and Mark stepped through.

"Sorry about the tense moment there," Badger stepped back and held the door open. "I couldn't hear you on the comm."

Mark nodded. "I could hear you." Before he moved further into the room, he lifted his hand to his ear. "Uptown?"

Heather saw Badger's reaction. It was a hint of surprise, but she couldn’t tell what kind of surprise or how to feel about it. She knew that the last person she wanted to play poker with was the Brit.

"Could you run a quick check on comms, please? Thanks."

He waited for a moment and Heather knew that he must be waiting for an answer.

A quick drop of his chin was enough to tell her that he'd gotten it.

Badger didn't ask for an answer. He must have heard the conversation through his comm.

Mark looked up and saw her pressed up against the wall.

His smile took quite a bit of the tension out of her body. His nod said that he was happy she'd followed their plans. "Miss? Mister Evan Margolis-"

"She knows who I am." Evan pushed past Mark into the room, grumbling under his breath. "You can both leave."

He lifted a hand in a tight, sweeping gesture that she hadn't seen before.

Something was bothering him.

Bothering him deeply.

Evan moved to the table where the violin was laid out in its case and he stopped short, gently placing his hands on the tabletop. "It looks... all right."

She felt the skin between her brows tighten and furrow. She wanted to lift her chin and look him square in the eyes and tell him that of course it was, but while she didn't get a lot of practice with the finer points of conversation, she knew that meeting Evan's not-so-subtle challenge with one of her own would only backfire and likely blow back into her own face.

Reaching into his own coat, Evan produced two white cotton gloves. Flicking them out he quickly put them on his hands before he reached out to touch the violin.

Heather had always appreciated the care that he took with the violin, but she didn't like the idea that he'd expected something to be wrong.

Evan lifted it out of the case and turned it over to see the back of the instrument. He held it up to the light and looked across the surface of the instrument before lowering it down in both of his hands.

He opened his mouth to speak but stopped. He turned his attention to Mark and the look on his face said that he wasn't happy.

"You can leave now."

Heather almost gasped out loud at Evan's cold tone of voice. Something was really bothering him.

Mark raised an eyebrow at the man's imperious tone, but it was Badger who spoke.

"Excuse me, sir?"

If she wasn't internalizing her own worries and stress, she might have smiled at the utterly proper way that Badger communicated when he was on the job.

With a huff and a sigh, Evan turned to look at Badger.

"Leave. I don't need you here."

Okay, she decided, enough was enough.

"Evan?"

He turned to look at her and his gaze met her own before his gaze dropped a little.

"What's going on?" Heather moved closer to Mark and stopped because she didn't want to get him in trouble.

"I need some quiet." Evan answered even though she'd posed the question to Mark. Evan was fixated on the violin and didn't even look up, so how would he have known?

Mark caught her eye. "He's heard some things... I don't know what he thinks is wrong with the violin, but he wanted to see it and make sure that it hasn't been damaged."

It hurt.

Those words. The assumptions that Evan had made, cut her to the quick.

"It... It's fine." She took another step closer, almost bringing herself hip to hip with Evan. "Evan, what's going on? Why are you... Why would you think that I've damaged the violin?"

He set the violin down with such force that it almost bounced out of the case.

Heather had to reach for it, her hands shooting out reflexively to hold it in.

She bumped hands with Evan, and he pulled away, twisting his expression into one of distaste.

"I've learned some things that say that we shouldn't trust you with the violin."

She looked at him, shock rocketing through her body. "What things? From whom? I've never-"

She paused remembering that she'd nearly lost her grip on the violin on the way back from the stage. How could she say that he was completely wrong?

"See?" Evan pushed her hand away from the violin. "See? She can't even deny it."

"You need to back off."

Mark took a step forward, reaching for Evan, but Heather gripped his arm. "Stop. Please."

The tension in Mark's arm under her hand eased. "He doesn't know what he's talking about."

"I know," she gently released his arm. "I know, but I don't think having so many people in the room will make it easier to talk to him."

MARK

He knew she was right.

He could read Evan's body language well. Almost too well.

Heather was right. Evan was worked up.

He had feelings that were wrong, but feelings made people unpredictable.

And he didn't want Evan any more keyed up than he was already.

Mark reached out and grasped her wrist and brought her closer, putting his back to Evan. He knew that Badger had his back in more ways than one. He could talk to Heather and know that they were covered.

"Babe-"

The corners of her mouth lifted just a hint.

"You want me to send Badger out?"

She shook her head, barely moving. "Both of you."

A muscle in his jaw tensed and twitched. "No."

"Yes," she managed a tremulous smile. "I know Evan, or rather," she swallowed loud enough that he heard it, "I've known him for a few years. He might be misled, but he's not going to hurt me."

He narrowed his gaze on her face. "Babe-"

"He's not going to listen with the two of you here. He's not going to back down. I can talk him down. I can."

Mark's instinct was to argue with her or deny her, but there was a look in her eyes. The stubborn set of her features, he could deal with, but there was something in the depths of her eyes that he recognized.

It wasn't just that he loved her.

That meant that he'd do anything for her.

What she was asking went against his instinct as a bodyguard. As a man of action.

But he knew how much the violin and her performing meant to her. And she did know Evan better than he did. They'd interacted over the years.

"You promised me that I could talk to her!"

Mark tensed up. Yes, he had promised that, but having him demand it? It galled him to give him what he wanted after that.

Heather placed a hand on his chest, and he felt his heartbeat leap against his ribs. "Please, Mark. I need to handle this on my own."

"This room only has the one door." He looked at the walls around them and then turned back to her. "And I'm going to be right outside if you need me."

She shook her head. "I know Evan. He's all about the violin and his family's legacy. He's not going to do anything to risk the violin. Please."

Mark nodded. "Like I said. There's the one door. We'll be right outside. If you need us, just shout out and we'll be there."

Her smile went a long way to making him feel better about the decision to step outside.

Mark turned to look at Evan. The other man glared at him from across the table.

"We're going to let the two of you talk," Mark made sure that Evan heard his words, "I expect you to remain calm and talk. Do you understand me?"

Evan finally met his gaze and dropped his chin a fraction of an inch. "I understand."

Mark gestured for Badger to leave the room and almost smiled when he passed by Evan and gave him a benign look, but the hard set of his shoulders said that he wasn't letting the other man off the hook in any way. Mark followed behind him by a few steps and paused at the door to give Heather one last look before he stepped out onto the landing and drew the door after him until there was less than an inch left open.

He'd be there to hear her if she needed him.

HEATHER

She looked at Evan and shook her head, wishing she could look at him without the mask on her face. It was starting to itch because of the extended time that she'd had it on her face. The stiff edges of lace felt like sandpaper against her skin after a few hours and she was dying to take it off and have some time to herself.

The rush of joy that she'd had during the show had given way to the anxiety near the end of the show when she'd sworn that she'd seen Tanner's father in the room. Tanner's father. The man who'd shot her years before.

And now, she had to talk Evan down from whatever rumors he'd heard.

Honestly, she'd wanted to get Mark and Badger out of the room. Whatever had riled Evan up wasn't going to be made better with two men in the room who were basically strangers to him.

Struggling to soften her expression, Heather moved closer to him. "Evan. Please."

He swallowed and studiously avoided her gaze.

She blew out a breath through her gently parted lips. "Please, can you tell me what's going on? I don't know who could have told you that I'm not being careful with the violin. No one around me would have any reason to think that's true."

"Well," he gasped in a breath that lifted his shoulders, "the person I've been talking to has known you for many, many years. He's known you since you were much younger. Years before our family allowed you to use the violin. He's told me many, many disturbing things about you and I'm... I'm inclined to believe him."

She couldn't even begin to understand who could have known her that long.

Everyone she'd known that far in the past were either dead or-

The air shifted in the room as if the building took in its own breath and the rush of air that moved around the tiny dressing room pushed the door closed.

The latch caught and Heather felt her own lungs seize with shock.

"He heard it from me, Heather."

She swore she felt the ground beneath her feet moved as if it shuddered in fear right along with her. Heather turned toward the back of the room and stared.

Where it had been whole and complete just seconds before, there was a gap in the concrete, and she could see a dimly lit room beyond that.

A man stepped up into the light from her dressing room mirror and suddenly she was on the verge of losing her mind.

The face that looked out at her was the same face she'd seen while she was on stage. The face that had always been in her nightmares and in the darkness of her fears.

"M-Mister B-Barrett-" She gasped in a breath that didn't quite reach her lungs. "I was told you were dead."

The hard look on his face softened a little, but the effect on her nerves was chilling.

"He is, Heather. But I'm not that Barrett. You used to pretend to love me, remember?"

She wanted the earth under her feet to swallow her whole. "Tanner?"